Archive for September, 2008

Actress and new mom Amanda Peet referred to parents who choose not to vaccinate their children as “parasites” in a recent interview. But despite her public apology aimed at parents of autistic children who believe that vaccines may have caused the illness, Jenny McCarthy hasn’t forgiven or forgotten.

“She (Peet) has a lot of [nerve] to come forward and be on that side, because there is an angry mob on my side, and I like the fact that I can say she’s completely wrong,” McCarthy (whose 6-year-old son has autism) tells the upcoming issue of Spectrum magazine, which hits stands Wednesday.

“I look at (Peet) now and say to myself, ‘That was me before I had autism in my life,’ and until she walks in our shoes, she really has no idea,” McCarthy added.

But McCarthy isn’t the only one taking a stand against Peet. National autism advocacy group Autism United is calling for a boycott of all of the actress’s movies.

“We want to send a clear message to her,” the organization’s Executive Director John Gilmore told Pop Tarts in a statement on Monday. “Ms. Peet’s comments are deplorable and an apology will not suffice. We applaud Jenny McCarthy’s continued efforts and for speaking up for our community.”

McCarthy and her longtime lover Jim Carrey continued their crusade this past summer and led a rally of thousands in Washington, D.C., to put pressure on the federal government to remove toxins from vaccines and fight for fewer childhood vaccinations prior to the age of 2.

But Peet (who is the spokeswoman for Every Child By Two, which raises awareness of the importance of getting children fully immunized by the time they are 2) hit back last month by joining the organization’s co-founder and former first lady Rosalynn Carter for a New York press conference to “dispel the myths” of McCarthy’s campaign.

“I am so distressed with what is happening, and now our mission has become more difficult,” Carter said. “As a result of all this there is an outbreak of measles and whooping cough.”

Earlier this year, the American Academy of Pediatrics put out a casting call for a star-studded spokesperson to combat McCarthy’s campaigning, and so Peet became involved.

(source)

Stephenie Meyer is taking another bite out of Hollywood.

The author, who has already hit the jackpot with her series of vampire novels and the soon to be released film version, Twilight, has also directed her first music video for alt-rock band Jack’s Mannequin.

Shot in Malibu, the video for the single “The Resolution,” off the band’s sophomore record The Glass Passenger, which released Tuesday, has a “whimsical, other worldliness look to it,” says Mannequin singer-keyboardist Andrew McMahon. He adds that they called upon Meyer to craft the concept of the video after hearing she was a fan of their tunes.

Watch the video here.

So just what did the creative Meyer come up with? “Me and my piano are hauling out of town trying to get away from the tide, but it just keeps coming to get me,” says McMahon. “She has a great eye for fantasy.”

When Twilight star Robert Pattinson heard about Meyer’s new gig he couldn’t help but gush. “She’s got obsessive taste in music so she’ll do really well,” he said.

And if McMahon’s reaction is a good indication, she did better than “well.” He described her directing skills as “awesome!” adding, “She’s totally cool! Just a very normal kind of chick.”

(source)

From hunk to chunk!

To play a manipulative CIA boss in Body of Lies (out Oct. 10), Russell Crowe had to pack on 63 lbs.

“‘I’ll have the cheeseburger for breakfast, thank you,’” he recalls thinking, according to a new Extra interview. (He adds that he also had his share of Sprinkles cupcakes.)

The spy thriller marks the first time Crowe has worked with Leonardo DiCaprio since 1995’s The Quick and the Dead.

“[It’s] pretty much exactly the same… except [DiCaprio] can drink legally now and he’s no longer a virgin,” Crowe jokes of their reunion.

Crowe says he couldn’t stop pranking his co-star in between takes.

“I’d wait until he was sitting in the makeup chair, and I’d walk past him and go, ‘A-choo!’ and I’d squirt the atomizer so just little bits of fine mist would form on his face and he’d obviously assume it was mucus.”

DiCaprio laughed it off.

“I’m really happy. It’s been bothering me for days,” he says sarcastically.

Crowe also opens up about being dad to sons, Charlie, 4, and Tennyson 2.

He says boozing has taken a backseat since having kids.

“The drinking thing has sort of taken a different place in my life since I had kids,” he tells Extra. “There’s a whole lot of things I don’t do anymore because it affects my level of patience.”

He adds, “I don’t want to be in that place where I’m exasperated with these beautiful children.”

Of fatherhood, he says, “It’s the most fantastic thing I’ve ever experienced. And um, it continues to get more fun and complex with every day.”

(source)

Sharon Stone “appears to overreact to many medical issues involving Roan,” her 8-year-old son with ex-husband Phil Bronstein, a San Francisco judge declared in a filing Tuesday, according to TMZ.com.

In a Tentative Statement of Decision as part of the actress’ ongoing custody battle with Bronstein, the judge claimed that Stone suspected Roan had a spinal problem despite “no evidence to support this allegation.

“Another example of an overreaction is that [Stone] suggested that Roan should have Botox injections in his feet to resolve a problem he had with foot odor,” the San Francisco Superior Court judge wrote.

The judge said Bronstein had a more “simple and common sense approach” to Roan’s problem: he made sure he “wore socks with his shoes and used foot deodorant” to avoid “any invasive procedure on this young child.”

The judge concluded by saying that it’s unclear how Stone has “limited her career to make herself available for Roan.

“Unfortunately, the problem caused by [Stone’s] overreactions is painfully real for this child,” the judge added.

Stone now has visitation of Roan for one weekend a month and on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, Extra reported.

According to documents detailing a September 12 custody hearing, it was ruled that Bronstein “shall have permanent sole physical custody of child” because “[Stone] failed to meet her burden of proof and denies respondent’s [Sharon Stone’s] request for modification of custody.”

According to the minute order, Bronstein is able to “provide a more structured continuity, stable, secure and consistent home that… Roan needs.”

In October 2007, a judge had ruled that Stone and Bronstein, a newspaper editor, had “joint legal and physical custody” of Roan, whom they adopted.

Stone and Bronstein, who wed wed on Valentine’s Day in 1998, announced they were splitting in 2003.

In 2006, Stone adopted her third child, Quinn Kelly Stone, who joined sons Roan and Laird.

(source)

The Girls Next Door household has been turned upside down lately, with Hugh Hefner confirming to Usmagazine.com last week that he and Holly Madison’s relationship is “in transition.”

“There are lot of changes going on … people are going through changes,” Kendra Wilkinson said at Saturday’s Karu&Y Relaunch party in Miami. “There’s a lot of rumors about me moving on, Holly
moving on … it’s really sad.”

Wilkinson, 23 (who has denied reports she’s engaged), continued: “I mean, it’s only sad because Hef has to deal with it, and Hef gets really emotional because he really loves us.

“He is definitely a softie,” she added, “so it’s really sad seeing him go through this stuff.”

Lucky for 82-year-old Hef, “he keeps it cool, and he has a lot of girlfriends around now to keep him happy,” Wilkinson told Us.

But Wilkinson has a message for the girls from The Hills: Stay away.

Asked who’d win in a smackdown — The Girls Next Door or the girls from The Hills – Wilkinson laughed.

“Aw, man - you see my guns? Are you serious now?” she asked Us. “I would take them all down. By myself.”

(source)

Janet Jackson has been released from the Royal Victoria Hospital in Montreal, according to a hospital rep.

“Yesterday evening she was checked into the Royal Victoria Hospital and left a couple of hours later,” Rebecca Burns, the spokeswoman for the McGill University Health Centre, which operates the hospital, told PEOPLE

Jackson, 42, cancelled her show in Montreal on Monday and was taken to the hospital after she “got suddenly ill” during her sound check, according to a statement from W&W Public Relations.

Further details of the singer’s condition were not immediately available, and reps for Jackson did not return requests for additional comment.

Jackson kicked off her Rock Witchu tour promoting her latest album, Discipline, in Vancouver on Sept. 10.

Jackson has complained of exhaustion, a source close to boyfriend Jermaine Dupri tells PEOPLE. “A 42-year-old body can’t handle what a 22-year-old body can,” says the source. “I can tell you that she’s definitely tired. It was probably exhaustion. She is doing back-to-back, three-hour shows, and her body isn’t the same as it used to be.”

The same night that Jackson was rushed to the hospital, Dupri was spotted in New York City partying at Patron’s Music in Motion Tour featuring TI at Marquee. “If [Janet’s condition] was more serious he would’ve rushed to her side,” added the source.

Jackson is due to perform in Boston Wednesday night.

(source)